Southern San Juan

You can trigger an avalanche in areas where winds recently drifted new snow along ridgelines. You can identify these areas by their smooth, pillow-like features and stiff feel underfoot. Triggering slopes from below is also possible, so give yourself wide margins from steep slopes overhead.

You can also trigger avalanches below treeline, where the same weak layer exists, but less drifting means these slides will be small. However, even small slides can hurt if they wash you through trees and rocks. Cracking and collapsing indicate unstable snow. Move to slopes less than about 35 degrees if you experience these warning signs.